It’s a cute place. Too bad they got way too greedy. It looks like they pumped too much money into the bathroom renovations, and the original list price of close to a million for a 3 bed in graceland west in late 2008 – LOL.

I looked at this place. It was interesting. It needed some finishing as not everything was installed before they quit construction. The place next door is two rentals.

There were some weird design decisions. The Master didn’t really have a closet, but there was a room attached to it with the door to the fire escape that could have been turned into a big closet if you were okay with the door in it. There is a gigantic two-car garage that takes up the whole back yard, so there is no outside space at all. The rental has a parking pad and a nice little yard. I would be tempted to reduce the garage to one car just to have a yard. The shower with all the gadgets is in the basement next to what I suppose is a guest room, with no window. The basement was mostly unfinished, but it did have a wine or beer fridge in what would be a family room.

We saw it at the same time as someone else who was on their second visit. I wonder what happened to them? The water, electricity, and gas had been shut off for some time, so the place was dark, cold, and there was poop in one of the toilets. I’m sure being cold all winter couldn’t be good for the place.

It is nicer than the pictures show. I don’t know a lot about construction, so I have no idea as to the quality. However, there were some nice things about the remodel that made it interesting. I liked that loft up top with the brick wall. It would have made a nice office with all the light streaming in. I thought the stackable washer/dryer off the kitchen was dumb. In a place this big, there’s room for full size. The master bath wasn’t completely finished but everything appeared to be there. It just needed installing. It had a big stone shower, double vanity, etc.

“The water, electricity, and gas had been shut off for some time, so the place was dark, cold, and there was poop in one of the toilets.”

I think I am in third grade because I just laughed out loud at this… And pictured a HGTV show regarding staging and how it’s important to demonstrate to potential buyers the utility of various aspects of the home. Ok, I am still laughing. Almost time to go home.

That weird shower-tub gizmo is a pricey Kohler “environment”. Rehab itself looks like a “pick-up truck” contractor “had at it” without benefit of architect, interior designer, or some design sense. This rehab needs rehab. Price makes that practical, but, given adjoining attached house is a two-flat, this rehab is really a four-flat as a single-family plus two unrenovated and likely rundown units.

Neither building seems to have a yard; both yards seem consumed by garage. Adjoining perpendicularly-placed houses are really close to this rowhouse. Suspect privacy and noise are also issues.

If I could go off topic for a second – Is there any way to get a sense as to what is going to happen to my property taxes when the second installment for 2009 comes out later this year? My assessed value went up ~10% and we lost our appeal. Obviously, if the equalization factor and tax rate remain the same, my taxes will go up by about 10% as well. With all the financial trouble the county seems to be in, are they going to just jack up rates to try to fill some of the gap? Is that how it works? Thanks for any feedback.

When you say 10%, are you talking market value or assessed value? The County changed assessment rate from 16% of market to 10% of market. So if you are really saying your assessment went up 10%, your market value went up 75% and your taxes are gong to be much higher.

Graceland west is legit. this argument already happened, though it was on the rare day that bob was absent. guess he cant be accused of plagiarizing for making nearly the exact same comment as sonies did then.

I don’t care if there’s a neighborhood association called “Graceland West”.

Me and a bunch of friends have the “Lake Michigan West” neighborhood association (its the part of ELV east of Halsted) and we meet and drink at various bars and piss in the lake.

But much like the “Graceland West” “community association” it consists of nothing more than a get-together of people trying to subdivide out their area from a larger area to support stupid real estate valuations.

While I didn’t plagiarize Sonies before I will definitely quote him now:

“Graceland West = Uptown no matter how much polish you throw on that turd.”-Sonies

Sorry Graceland West Community Association, but you all live in Uptown. Its true even if your Realtor(tm) told you otherwise.

“When you say 10%, are you talking market value or assessed value? The County changed assessment rate from 16% of market to 10% of market. So if you are really saying your assessment went up 10%, your market value went up 75% and your taxes are gong to be much higher.”

Are you saying that if my assessed value from 2008 to 2009 remained flat, the change from 16% of market to 10% of market will still cause my taxes to increase despite no change assessed value? Shouldn’t the change in assessed value methodology be offset by a change in the equalization factor?

In my case, the assessed value shown on the assessors website went up by 10%. If what you’re saying is correct, it sounds like installment #2 could be painful.

Marko,
That’s right. If the market value was $100,000 in 2008, the assessed value was 16,000. If MV stays the same, the assessed value will now be 10,000. The equalizer will jump because all residntial property %’s went down. Your taxes will go up a lot more than 10%,

This address is not in Graceland West, nor it Graceland West part of uptown. It’s boundaries are Montrose to the north, Irving on the south, Clark st on the east, Ashland on the west. I’d hardly call it dead, with the increasing number of pricey homes.